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***Photo above*** *- America’s most expensive public school is in California. It cost $130,000 per public to build – close to a billion dollars. Apparently affordable schools are as far out of reach as affordable housing is . . .*
Imagine getting a text alert like this: *“Your account is overdrawn by $68 billion. Please make a deposit by tomorrow at 5pm”.* This is the unenviable position California Governor Newsom finds himself in. Except he’s being given waaaaay more time to cover the overdraft. In fact, California was already overdrawn (by $150 billion) before the latest fiasco (2024 projections). I’m guessing the overdraft line of credit on California’s bank account will be triggered again. California doesn’t have a law requiring a balanced budget. (Neither does the Federal Government). Crushing budget deficits are the result. See link at bottom.
In case you’re wondering, California’s accumulated debt now stands at around $12,000 per taxpayer, including the upcoming shortfall. There are 16,799,999 individual taxpayers in the golden state. I updated the official 2022 figure of 16.8 million to subtract Elon Musk, who has already decamped to Texas. Other high profile California mega millionaires may have already fled too. This is a shame, because Elon is one of those people who could actually afford to pay his share of the state debt. Most California residents can’t. If they’re not spending all their pay on scarce, overpriced apartments, they’re living in their mom’s basements or their cars.
**Inquiring minds want to know . . . WHY is California so deep in debt?** The Politico link is coy about this. NPR doesn’t divulge many details either. Just that spending exceeded tax revenue. Media friendly to Governor Newsom point out that California had a significant budget surplus in 2022. Which is reassuring, except the state evidently didn’t put any of that windfall towards their accumulated $150 Billion debt. This is like you or me getting a Christmas bonus and deciding not to pay down any of our credit card debt. Going on a lavish spending spree instead.
Instead, the link speculates on where future spending might be cut. Possibly rolling back the new minimum wage hikes – that could save billions for the state government payroll. WTH – California state employees are currently being paid an unlivable minimum wage? There’s also talk of slashing school budgets. I’m maybe okay with this. A few years ago, Los Angeles bragged that it had just built the planet’s most expensive public school. Construction and land costs approaching $1 Billion. The pro-rated expense per pupil was $130,000. Notably, the school district did NOT brag that their graduation rates and test scores were improving. This is why we can’t have nice things – our politicians can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to spending.
**Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis just had a debate.** They faced questions about how they might run the nation if either of them was actually elected 5 years from now. That’s certainly a relevant question, even if you understand that 5 years is a hilariously absurd time horizon to be planning your moves for the day after inauguration. Instead of that BS, most people would probably rather have both governors get asked about how they are (mis) managing their states today. Questions like:
1. Are the homeless numbers in California up, or down, compared to last year?
2. Are you sorry you caused Disney to cancel its proposed Florida headquarters, and with it 10,000 jobs?
3. The California state budget deficit will be $68 Billion next year. Which taxes will be going up, and which departments’ budgets will be slashed?
4. Is there an official “burn list” of Florida public school library books? So that berserk parents can move on, and board meetings can address something more relevant to kids’ classroom instruction?
I’m very old skool when it comes to politics. The media should hold candidates accountable for their past performance. Not host a chest thumping contest of pie-in-the-sky promises. The candidates should stop hoping all of this will blow over, and 5 years from now nobody remembers what they actually did as governor . . .
I’m just sayin’ . . .
[**A 68 billion dollar bummer – POLITICO**](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2023/12/08/a-68-billion-dollar-bummer-00130764)
by baltimore-aureole